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Mechanics
These are a list of Mechanical changes to the Portland by Nights game. Some are simply things that needed to be changed when we switched to the Masquerade setting, others are tried a true houserules practiced by many Requiem gaming groups, and others are simply clarifications on muddy rules. Embracing new Kindred No more permanent willpower dot to make a baby vampire. The curse of Cain is easily spread, just a drop of vitae in a freshly dead (Still somewhat warm) mortals mouth is all it takes. This really doesn't change much for players since the threat is still there for meeting the finial death but it makes mass turnings an actual scary prospect and a legitimate fear. Beat to EXP points. At certain points the amount of Beats needed to gain an EXP increases. This represents your character finding it harder to learn new things, as well as gaining less from experiences she went through before. *26+ EXP - 6 Beats *51+ EXP - 7 beats *76+ EXP - 8 beats *101+ EXP - 9 beats *126+ EXP - 10 beats *Ect. Ect. Resistances I'm changing the way resistances work to a house rule Joseph found on a huge play by post board. The defense dice pools agsinst supernaturals powers were just ridiculously small, to the point were even elders with a decent Generation could be dominated by a freshly made shmuck. These pools still favor the attackers but are just slightly less skewed. -Resolve or Composure + Supernatural Tolerance (Contested Resistance) Becomes: Resolve + Composure + Supernatural Tolerance. -Stamina + Supernatural Tolerance (Contested Resistance) Becomes: Stamina + Resolve + Supernatural Tolerance. -Resolve or Composure only (Automated Resistance) Becomes: Resolve + Composure. -Stamina only (Automated Resistance) Becomes: Stamina + Resolve. Humanity Humanity is a vampires connection to her former existence as a mortal. The further down she falls, the more of a monster she becomes. This is simply a humanity chart for the severity of sins. Please see the Requiem book (Or even the V20 book, really) for generalizations about what a vampire at a certain humanity is like. Sexmurder: Buy this! has a great new humanity system that fits perfectly with the flavor of a Requiem chronicle. However we are not playing in requiems world, were playing in Masquerades, with that in mind the new humanity does not quite fit. So were going to use this chart below to gauge Humanity, which is a slightly modified version of Masquerades with some things I liked from Sex Murders new humanity rules. However now instead of rolling for humanity when you commit a sin on the same level or below your humanity, like in Requiem, were going to do it as it was done in Masquerade where "if a vampire accidentally or purposely commits an act rated lower" then her current humanity score, then he rolls. A humanity two kindred is on a slippery slope to damnation, every little event just chips away at his humanity over time. While a Humanity two kindred is circling the drain. If they do not make extreme efforts to raise their humanity (which would be almost'' impossible'' at this point even if they desired to) then they will fall to humanity 0 by nature of simply existing. Its just a question of when. Keep in mind as well that Humanity is not a metric that vampire characters can see scaled out for them from one to ten. Its much more vague for the actual person where he stands. Its important to remember that regardless of humanity all vampires are monsters on some level, some are just better at hiding it from others, and themselves. Humanity, and indeed all of the Paths, are simply imposed structures of morality designed to keep the beast at bay. Neither mortals, or other supernaturals follow vampiric paths. Threshold of Sins Other Effects * When a vampire begins his slide down humanity he begins to loose his grasp on how to behave and talk around mortals. There are a plethora of non-verbal cues humans pick up on when in social situations with another human. Quick flashes of emotion in facial expression, a nod to show that someone is listening, just the right amount of eye contact. Nonverbal communication represents two-thirds of all communication. And the lower a vampires humanity goes the harder such things become. The kindred no longer thinks in human terms, no longer communicates like a human would. And people pick up on this. They may not immediately recognize it... But they now that something is wrong. * Added to this is the fact that lower humanity kindred acquire unnatural and disturbing features like sunken eyes, perpetual snarls, and bestial countenances. That Malkavian over there stares just a bit too hard, maintains eye contact a bit too long. That Toreador has a smile on her face that is just too fake. * If a vampire reaches humanity 8 he attains a state that is basically "more human than human." Humans may actively enjoy behind around him, but they still don't treat him like a normal person, more like they would a living saint (Which can cause all sorts of problems). A vampire at this level is almost inhuman in his humanity. Almost needless to say: Vampires of this high humanity are generally ostracized by kindred society as a whole. * At humanity 2 and below any mundane social rolls with a mortal is always a chance die. A vampire at this level of humanity is not even remotely human and merely interacting with them in public places is tantamount to a breech of the masquerade. * Although there is no rules for it imposed, at certain times a particularly low or high humanity vampire can find it harder or easier to resist the beast. * Diablarie: A note on this. Humanity is merely a players metric. Kindred in universe can't really keep track of their path rating, its a very ethereal thing. So low humanity vampires might just consider diablarie a very real option. Even a humanity 1 vampire doesn't really realize how close to the breaking point she is and and that level of degradation diablarie might seem to be a paltry thing. -*Does not include Intimidate, does not affect discipline rolls. -**Although a vampire could use Illusion of Life even at this humanity, he never does. He's far to inhuman and monstrous to see the reason to. Torpor In requiem it takes the blood of a vampire of a higher blood potency then you to rouse from torpor, in Masquerade its simply any blood what so ever. I'm going with a compromise, it takes the blood of a kindred at least equal or lower to the torpid vampires generation to rouse him from torpor, and the expenditure of a permanent willpower dot. Or, the blood of something potent and supernatural. A Methuselah thick vitae in a vial, an extremely verile werewolves blood, or the life liquid of a changeling king. You get the idea. Physical Attractiveness Your physical attractiveness in requiem can be a very nebulous thing. Essentially, unless you are a Nosferatu, your character can be anything from terribly ugly to handsome, its basically up to you and is simply a roleplay decision. The exception is if you have Striking Looks. One dots of striking looks denotes someone of stunning beauty. Someone with striking looks one walks into the room and everyone's turns to look. Not having striking looks does not mean you're ugly, it doesn't even mean you are plain looking (unless you want to be, obviously). Someone with striking looks is just so pretty that they actually gain a statistical advantage from it. Strength Reflections, Photographs, and Video You have a reflection! You do not show up as blurry on video cameras! Best be careful. The world just got a whole lot more dangerous. Generation The standard blood potency from Requiem is now Generation. You cannot spend EXP to lower your Generation. Blood Potency 1 equals Generation 13th, Blood Potency 2 equals 12th, and so on. A merit that can only be taken at character creation has been added which mimics that of the oWoD "Generation" Background. Follow this chart: -*Can only use 8 of his or her blood pool for disciplines, raising physical attributes, healing, ect. The remaining can only be spent on raising each night. -**Can only use 6 of his or her blood pool for disciplines, raising physicals, healing, ect. The remaining can only be spent on raising each night. -***Expend two blood points for what a normal vampire where only need one. This does not apply to rising at night. Vitae Shelf Life of Vitae Once blood enters the undead body of a vampire it becomes Vitae. The magical substance that sustains a kindreds unlife and fuels his power. Vitae retains is mystical properties for only a limited time once of the kindreds body, when it reverts back to noral it appars only to be a room tempature puddle of mixed blood, potentially from a variety of sources. Only a few seconds for those of high generation, and longer for lower generations. A 13th generations vitae would revert back to a mixture of human blood in just a few seconds, but a Methuselah thick blood could remain as is for shockingly long durations. And of course, stories fly of various practices and rituals that extend the life of vitae removed from a kindred or of coteries who have found entire vials of old, thick, kindred vitae and the ensueing fights it caused. Vitae and Mortals Because of its unnatural properties, vitae can have a potent effect on living mortals. The most widely observed effect is how vitae can heal a mortals body, knitting together bones, sealing up wounds, even fighting off disease and infection. A mortal body 'burns' vampires vitae as soon as it enters their system. If the mortal is wounded or sick in some way, the blood heals whatever damage it can and then fades, leaving only a slight euphoria.. and leaving the mortal one point blood bound. If a mortal is not wounded, the vitae is still burned, but it induces an effect much like a drug. Its been described as euphoric and relaxing in some but as also been observed to act as an supernaturally potent stimulant in others. The effects of Vitiae in this manner are varied and unpredictable. However seem to at least some what depend upon the personality of the vampire the blood came from, especially if the vampire was Brujah or Malkavian. Drinking enough vampire blood can also have other effects on a mortal, if the blood is potent enough or if a significant amount is ingested its has been noted to temporarily increase physical abilities, aggression, appitite, energy, and sex drive. The most noted result of a mortal ingesting vitae is its lasting side effects. Mortals who ingest vampire blood tend to obsess over the vampire in question. They seem to like the vampire more, they are more willing to do things that they think would please the vampire. Mortals can find themselves thinking of the vampire during the day, and dreaming of the vampire at night. There's even cases of vitae leaving mortals with sexual desires for the vampire in question and while its not a hard and fast rule, it is fairly common; especially among the Toreador. Of course the danger is that this effect can be cumulative and lead to a blood bond (see the book). If a mortal doesn't know where the blood came from and drank vitae without knowing what it is then he or she is filled with a strange wanting that they can't describe. If they run into the vampire who gave them the blood they will recognize said vampire and feel as if they had met before. Blood effects a ghoul differently. A Ghoul is still alive but he or she has been changed by their regent and is no longer quite human. The blood isn't immediately burned and only endues a slight intoxicated feeling. Personality I got this idea from the VtM to VtR translation guide and I really like what I can do with it. Characters will have a Virtue and Vice as well as a Nature and Demeanor. Natures and Demeanor's can be found in the V20 book. This leads me into... Willpower Characters can regain one temporary willpower point by doing one of the following things: *Satisfy your vice: If you indulge in your vice you will recover a point of temporary willpower. Admittedly this is easier with some vices then others, but I find that the easier the vice is to fulfill the more likely it is to get a player into sticky situations. *Act in Accordance with your Nature: It can be dangerous to showcase your true face to the undead, or mortal, world. If you fulfill the criteria stated on the V20 "Personality Archetypes" page you'll regain a temporary willpower point. *One full night of doing something your character would find relaxing and'' not'' in any way '''strenuous recovers two temporary willpower points. Characters can regain all of their temporary willpower points by doing one of the following things: *Satisfy your virtue: Preform a meaningful act that that fulfills your virtue. Generally these must showcase your virtue in substantial way, for example, fulfilling charity isn't as simple as giving money to a bum. You must truly sacrifice and put yourself at risk/harm to do true charity and regain your temporary willpower. *End a story arc: At the end of a story arc all PCs regain their temporary willpower points. Disciplines We are playtesting the sexmurder discipline rules. Refer to individual disciplines pages for specific changes. If a discipline does not exists in nWoD refer to the rules from the Translation Guide, if something on this websites has a different rule then the translation guide, then go with this website. If They do not have one then let me know and we'll figure it out. Predators Taint Does not exist. Since were playing in the world of masquerade being able to feel the relative potency of the kindred around you would kind of spoil the fun. Learning Characters improve through gameplay by spending experience and putting in time to improve at one thing or another. But being undead some things come easier then others. Here is a simple hierarchy of things in the game that characters can obtain, and how difficult they are to obtain. (From easiest to hardest) #Physical Attributes: Increaseing these come easily to a kindred as blood-buffing. The kindred simply orders that mystical red ooze in his body to make him stronger, tougher, or quicker. No teacher is required, nor in game time spent practicing, simply spend the experience and your character improves. #In clan Physical Disciplines: A a character with an in clan physical discipline need only spend a short time (depending on how many dots she already has) practing with a in clan physical discipline to be able to raise it. Though it cannot be increased "on the fly" as attributes can. No teacher is required. #Out of clan Physical Disciplines: Much like in clan mental discipines, a teacher is required to learn the first dot of an Out of Clan physical, but after the basics are learned one can simply teach himself. It does however take time and practice. #In Clan Mental Disciplines: If a kindred is embraced with innate knowledge of one of her clans mental disciplines then she need only figure out how to use it. Generally her sire teaches her this over a night or two, on her own figuring this could take weeks or months. But once mastered a kindred can increase an in clan mental discipline without the aid of teacher. However if a kindred is embraced without the innate ability and wishes to learn a mental discipline later then she would need a teacher (Implying the 1 point blood bonding) to show her just the first dot, after that it can increase on its own. Increasing an in clan mental discipline takes either time spend alone, working on it, or generous amounts of practice with the discipline. #Social and Mental Attributes: A kindred has a much easier time with physical attributes then a normal human, (or even other supernaturals) make the blood go a certain way and bam, stronger. This is not the case with Mental and Social attributes, no amount of vitae can make a kindred smarter or more likeable. So increasing one of these requires effort on the part of a kindred, taking a class, reading certain books, going to public events, or just dealing with the hellish world of kindred politics are all a few examples of how a vampire could work on, and increase her Wits, Intelligence, Presence, or Manipulation. Resolve and Composure are a little more tricky and can really only be hardened by enduring hardships, thankfully a kindred endures a great many. #Skills, Specialties and Merits: Increasing a skill requires patience, practice, and commitment. Far more so then an attribute a skill requires either a great deal of use in game to increase or a tremendous amount of time put into learning it in nights off. The first dot of a skill needs a great deal of time for someone to grasp the basics, the second dot takes much less time and practice, but from there it just gets more and more difficult. Specialties take more time, honing your skills in a certain area and mastering them. Merits are on a case by case basis, generally the more dots they are, the longer they take to learn. #In Clan Blood Magic: Blood magic is tricky, although certain clans have the ability to preform it coursing through their undead veins its still much more difficult then other in clan disciplines. Generally every dot of a path requires a teacher, a tome, or a combination of an instructor and lore. It requires a great deal of time spent doing nothing but practice to master dots in a path, and this time required on increases at higher levels. Blood Magic does not work like mental disciplines in that repeated used of lower levels in game will not justify its increase. #Out of Clan Mental Disciplines: Learning another clans innate abilities can be tricky, first of all it requires lots of practice and nights spent doing nothing but trying to master this ability. And second it requires an instructor for each dot, unlike in clan which only requires a teacher for the first dot. This means that if you want to learn more then the first dot you had better find one person who you can at least somewhat trust whose willing to continue your tutelage. #Out of Clan Blood Magic: This usually includes things like Theban Sorcery, Kuldonic Sorcery, or Cruac, hardly ever does it mean some random kindred learning thaumaturgy. This can be difficult, and requires instruction, practice, and time, more so then those learning it in-clan. #Devotions (aka Combination Disciplines): Learning to fuse two or more disciplines to create a unique effect is very, very difficult. Some are easier to learn then others, it generally depends upon the Devotions effects and what levels of disciplines are required to learn it. Devotions require a teacher and one point of blood binding, just like disciplines. Many devotions are internal to a group or a clan and are very difficult for outsiders to learn. #Humanity: This is the most difficult statistic to gain and requires much more then just quiet calm practice. True effort needs to be made on the part of the kindred and he or she has to, well, choose to try to be a better vampire and bust their ass to do so. Feeding Feeding is now has its own system. A feeding roll is always one Attribute, plus one Skill, and either bonuses, or penalties to your die pool based upon the circumstance. When you roll for feeding your character hunts for one straight hour and every success gained counts as one being found to feed from. Bonuses and penalties can be anything from their being a great deal of people out, or an empty club. Roads packed for a festival making it difficult to feed in the shadows, or chaos in the streets making it easy to grab a panicked kine. Disciplines that don't cost a vitae can aid in feeding if they can be justified to be useful. For every applicable discipline your character can use in the manner in which she is hunting she gains 1 bonus die. If you are hunting using your herd simply add the bonus die from your heard dots to your roll. Be warned though that unless you have a truly enormous herd that feeding using them too much will quickly leave many of your mortals unable to be fed from for some nights, lest you kill them. :: So how about an example. Lets say Nick was going to go feed at a club. He's specifically going to swoop in and attempt to woo people off their feet. His base pool would be Presence plus Persuasion. :: Nicks player asks if his characters Persuasion specialty of Seduction would help him in this instance and the ST approves, allowing nick one more die. Nick also has one dot of the Striking Looks merit, giving him one more die. :: Now we look at Nicks disciplines, club feeding in this manner would only benefit from certain mental powers so we check to see which ones Nick has: Dominate, Dementation, and Majesty. :: The club is too loud raucous for Mesmerize to help, but Awe and strategically placed Passion would do nicely. So nick gains two bonus die from those. :: However it is Wednesday, the club is dead and its slim pickings, a -3 to his hunting pool. Nick also has things he has to do tonight so he tries to rule out patrons who are drunk or high, another -2. :: With that nicks player does the math and makes the roll. This is just one example of a myriad of ways to hunt. Blood pool of mortals however is now divorced from their health. When you bite someone to feed you inflict one point of lethal damage (Or bashing if its a vampire) and drain from their blood. A vampire can generally take 20% of a creatures blood "safely", up to 40% will hospitalize a mortal or slowly kill someone who has no access to quick, ''good'' health care, something which the vampire would not know. Anymore then 40% will generally lead to their death without immediate hospitalization. Sometimes when a mortal takes lethal damage they start to loose blood points, enough lethal damage can cause a mortal to bleed out. Here's some average blood quantities, the exact amounts of course vary from person to person or animal to animal. Humans -Adult: 10 Blood Points -Elderly/Teen: 8 Blood Points -Child: 5 Blood points -Plasma Bag: 1 Blood Point Animals Animal blood is not as nourishing to kindred as the human variety so although some animals may have vast quantities blood in their bodies it requires that much more for a vampire to gain sustenance from it. Generally vampires must take so many blood points from animals that any amount will kill them. -Tiny animals (Rats, Birds, Squirrels, etc.): 1/2 of a Blood point -Small animals (Cats, Ferrets, Yappy Dogs): 1 Blood point -Medium animals (Pet dogs of varying sizes): 2 Blood points -Large animals (Horses, Wolves, Lions, Elks): 6 Blood points -Huge animals (Bears): 8 Blood points -Gargantuan animal (Elephants, Whales - Where the fuck are you hunting?!): 12 Blood points Supernatural Creatures Supernatural creatures are hit or miss. Some don't have blood at all, some are essentially just human when it comes to their blood pool, but others can have shockingly potent stuff, allowing a vampire to sustain himself off of just a taste. Feeding from werewolves or changelings however can have dire consequences. Many a vampire would love a werewolf to feed upon, their blood is potent seeming to make one stronger, and because of their bodies ability to knit itself together after injury you can almost drain one dry without killing it. However werewolf blood erodes a vampires ability to fight off the beast, making it impossible to ride the wave and allowing the slightest of provocations or frustrations to send a vampire into an all night long frenzy. Changeling blood is similarly potent. Some say it tastes better then anything, others find it plain, and some say it tastes it foul. But vampires that feed on The Lost often find themselves experiencing terrible, or wondrous fever dreams. But even though they some may be wondrous, more then one vampire whose fed on a changeling has wound up passing out in a park somewhere mid-hallucination and wound up a pile of ash. And feeding on other vampires? Well I think we all know the risks that carries. In most cases its not that these creatures have a greater physical volume of blood in their system, but rather that a smaller amount of it sustains a vampire more. A Methuselah isn't a walking bathtub of blood but rather its just that a small drop of her thick vitae could be as potent as the entire amount in a neonates body. -Other Vampires: 10+ blood points -Werewolves: 20 - 30 blood points -Changelings: 20 Blood points Blood Sympathy Vitae can have a strange binding effect for those closely related by it. A kindred is more closely connected to his "family", hence the rule that for two generations removed (childer and grand-childer, or sire and grand-sire) a kindred gains +2 die to affect a family member with a discipline. I'm expanding that to also direct vampire "siblings" (that is kindred with the same sire.) Also as it says in the book when a vampire is in an intense emotional state those of his blood family (Siblings, Sire, grand-sire, childer, grand-childer) can sometimes feel this. This could happen if the vampire is suddenly attacked, or frenzies, or dies, or really any incredibly emotional experience. This is rather random as to when this takes place, from what distance, and how much is seen, all of it is left up to storyteller discretion. Also a vampire can attempt to force this connection. A kibdred can only attempt this with her direct child or sire. Trying to force this costs two Vitae as well as two willpower points. The kindred must have at least one dot in occult to have the knowledge necessary to attempt. A Wits+Occult roll determines sucess with the number of successes telling how much information is gleaned. There could be any number of penalties in place. This roll takes several minuets and can only be attempted once per night. Ghouls A mortal becomes a Ghoul if a vampire feeds him a vitae and wills his body to use it to take on a dark metamorphosis by spending a point of willpower. Ghouls gain several benefits over normal mortals. : Ghouls immediately become tougher, gaining 1 free dot of Fortitude and are no longer subject to rolling their stamina every turn to avoid being knocked when their final health box is full of Bashing damage. : Ghouls gain one additional dot of either a physical in-clan discipline of their regents choosing, or one of the three physical disciplines at random if their regent has no physical in clan disciplines. : Ghouls can store vitae in their bodies and spend it to augment their physical stats, heal wounds or activate disciplines. This works exactly as it does for a vampire. A ghoul can store a maximum number of vitae in his body equal to his total stamina bonus. This vitae will not fade so long as the ghoul remains a ghoul and it cannot be sucked out by another kindred. However if a ghoul misses a monthy feeding then the vitae is absorbed into his system and gets him, well, quite high. : Ghouls can learn disciplines from vampires. Each dot must be taught to him from a kindred with whom the ghoul has a blood connection. It costs as much as an out of clan discipline. A ghoul must have at least 1 vitae in his system to use disciplines, even if it is not required for activation. : Ghouls recover from diseases they may be suffering from and find themselves filled with an unnatural energy. They tend to look healthy and active. Older ghouls even regain a youthful spryness. : Ghouls cease aging, though they still go through all the normal bodily functions of a human. They need to eat, sleep, and breath. Their hair and nails grow. They can get tattoos, lose an an arm, all that stuff, they just stop aging. Ghouls must gain 1 vitae a month and an expenditure of a willpower point from either the ghoul or the vampire feeding him the vitae or else the ghoul loses all of these benefits and begins to age. As long as she is still within her natural life span, she resumes normal aging. But if sheʼs lived from 100 to 250 years, then she begins aging at 10 times the normal rate — a year becomes a decade, and so on. Ghouls who have lived more than 250 years crumble instantly to dust if their supply of vitae falters. A ghoul who ceases to be a ghoul and then becomes one again ceases aging that that point and then regains all of her original ghoul benefits and disciplines. For some reason turning a mortal into a ghoul makes it harder for them to be embraced. Embracing a ghoul requires four vitae and the expenditure of a '''permanent willpower point. And even still, if someone attempts to embrace a quite fresh ghoul, it tends to lead to the unfortunate thralls death. The Vampiric Condition To get this out of the way now, here is some clarification: Kindred Senses After the embrace a kindred finds that all of his senses are sharpened to about the hight of human potential. She quickly finds that she seems to be constantly sensitive to sights, sounds, scents that go on around her, and can feel things with greater tactile fineness. Taste is likely the first to be truly noticed when the kindred first consumes blood. Indeed it could be argue that taste becomes the kindred mosts sensitive sense. At any given time a kindred is assumed to be breathing. though technically they do not have to it is assumed that most vampires to this to look mortal and/or to keep aware of their surroundings. Kindred Humors At any given time a small amount of the Vitae within a vampires system is unconsciously used to help deep her undead body working smoothly. Liquids in, and out of the eye, saliva in the mouth, a bit of moisture in the skin, fluid the joints, are all some examples of bodily fluids that vitae partially "transmutes" into some facsimile of. This is why as a kindred runs low on her reserves of Vitae her undead body begins to appear… disconcerting. Her eyes appear sunken, her body and skin looking more gaunt, dry, cracked, withered, and corpse-like. The kindred even moves more stiffly. Kindred can use Vitae to secrete fluids, sometimes involuntarily such as if a kindred is forced to tears. The amount vitae used is always variable, a kindred may not lose much from crying, but could drop in a few points if he wants to force himself to piss blood. If a kindred wishes he can spend an additional vitae he can force this expelled blood to somewhat transmute into a facsimile of actual mortal bodily fluids, just as the vitae in his mouth, eyes, and skin, does. Rumor has it that this parlour trick is is where the Path of Conjuration was derived from. Kindred Consumption Most kindred cannot stand mortal food. Many find the taste of any food or drink that is not blood either revolting or completely and utterly bland. Oh sure, the kindred can use his enhanced, honed palate to taste a substance on a purely scientific level, but 'good' or 'bad' doesn't factor into it. It triggers no pleasure receptors, the sensation is simply bland. A mortal may be able to discern the difference in flavour and texture between cardboard and packing foam, but it doesn't mean he exactly wants it in his mouth. If a kindred attempts to swallow food he must spend a blood point to choke it down and keep it from being violently expelled. At the end of the scene the contents of the kindreds stomach are spectacularly ejected with the spent vitae. The exception to this is a Kindred with the "Eat Food" merit. Movement of the Blood A kindred can move the vitae around within his own body just by force of will. This means that a kindred does not bleed if wounded, and could even become aroused if he wishes. The Rapture of the Blood When kindred consume blood, its more then just for survival. Vampires are practically junkies moving from fix to fix. Some hunt almost as much to satiate their addiction to the taste of blood and the sensation that feeding brings, as they do to sustain their unlives. Not only does the kindred love the taste of blood, but she actually enjoys certain blood more then others. Generally speaking healthy mortals taste better then unhealthy ones, but a kindred could have all sorts of exotic preferences and wild tastes about who they feed from, their race, social strata, diet, etc, etc. But either way, tasting and consuming blood gives kindred an incredible, but temporary, high. The act of feeding also gives kindred a similar feeling and that simply stacks on top of the one other. Very quickly in her unlife the kindred realizes that feeding feels good. Very good. Amazing in fact. Other acts that involve consumption of blood can also effect kindred almost like a drug. Feeding from other vampires, drinking vitae rather then blood, or even diablerie, are said to make feeding from a mortal feel like a light mist as compared to a roaring wave crashing down upon them. The Illusion of Life Sometimes a vampire just has to interact with mortals. Sometimes she needs to shake their hands and know that this city councilman can feel warmth and a pulse. For this the Kindred rely upon the Illusion of Life. For a variable amount of Vitae as determined by their humanity, a vampire can activate this reflexive power. The illusion of life sends vitae rushing to a kindreds skin, warming her from a chill corpse to just slightly cool. Her veins beat with a fake pulse, her eyes blink involuntarily, and she gains a little colour to her complexion. This by no means makes her look totally mortal, and upon close, medical scrutiny likely will appear sickly. But in a social setting many with simply think her a slightly pale person with bad circulation. Category:Rules and Houserules